End-to-end virtualization and grid management

In the context of Grid Computing and Management, virtualization allows an upper layer n to function independently and effectively without being intrinsically tied to a lower layer n-1. In OS virtualization, guest operating systems are isolated from physical computational resources. In server virtualization, application servers are isolated from physical server resources. In network virtualization, network services or applications are isolated from physical network resources. One of the major features of Grids is the sharing of heterogeneous resources, which can be facilitated by various levels of virtualization. In other words, Grids should provide holistic or end-to-end virtualization. It is obvious that proper resource management is key to providing effective virtualization. However, resource management for virtualization (as opposed to typical resource management) is a challenge in that there is no trivial way of virtualizing resources and presenting virtualized resources to the upper layers. It is even a bigger challenge when end-to-end (E2E) virtualization is considered, for example, when OS and server virtualization interplay with storage and network virtualization for providing an effective E2E virtualized environment. The First IEEE/IFIP International Workshop on End-to-end Virtualization and Grid Management (EVGM 2007) was held in San José, California, USA, 29th–30th October 2007, as part of the 3rd International Week on Management of Networks and Services (Manweek 2007).